So You Want to Go to the Memphis Zoo
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If you’re thinking about taking a trip to the Memphis Zoo, you’ve come to the right place! The Memphis Zoo, located in the heart of Memphis itself and adjacent to beautiful Overton Park, provides an entire world of adventure for you and your little ones to explore. As a non-profit organization, the Memphis Zoo dedicates itself to wildlife conservation and animal welfare. It not only provides a beautiful space to observe animals from around the world, but also acts as a wonderful place to gather and enjoy special events and activities with family and friends. I hope you will have the chance to enjoy the Memphis Zoo as much as we have!
The Memphis Zoo keeps its gates open year round only closing for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and offers special events and activities nearly every other week. By taking advantage of a membership package, you can enjoy unlimited visitations and free parking for an entire year. Tennessee students and residents also have the unique opportunity of enjoying free admission to the park every Tuesday from 2pm until closing (excepting 4th of July and the month of March). As one might expect, Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days to visit the Memphis Zoo while mornings until noon offer the lightest daily crowd coverage making them the perfect time to drop in for a visit.
In addition to regularly providing special events and activities, the Memphis Zoo has also partnered with KultureCity to offer sensory bags with noise-canceling headphones and other tools intended to help over-stimulated/overwhelmed guests have a better zoo experience. This thoughtful gesture truly makes a day at the zoo more enjoyable and accessible to everyone. The Memphis Zoo also offers live-streamed views of many of their exhibits on their website 24-hours per day, so no one needs to miss out if they can’t manage a trip downtown.
The Memphis Zoo has 15 unique exhibits that house over 500 species of animals! Our favorite path through the zoo begins with Cat Country, a four-acre open air exhibit for the most wonderful of wild cats, followed by the Tropical Bird House (the irony isn’t lost on us either haha). After enjoying our exotic tropical weather bird friends, we stop by Penguin Rock to see their arctic cousins before traveling around through Once Upon a Farm, the Aquarium and the Dragon’s Lair where we discover just how large a lizard can be. Then we pop by Pelican’s Pool and the Herpetarium on our way to visit Animals of the Night and glimpse into their nocturnal world through floor to ceiling glass. From here, we’ll head around the world to China before enjoying part of the Primate Canyon before revisiting it again later. We love to finish large, so we save the most awe inspiring exhibits for the end. We travel into the African Veldt, then through the Northwest Passage and Teton Trek before ending at the Zambezi River Hippo Camp and one more pass through Primate Canyon. The exhibits themselves are truly amazing, but if you want to make the most of your trip, I highly recommend taking a ride on the Eco-Train or letting the kids run around on the Splash Pad throughout your visit too.
Don’t forget to eat! You can grab some grub all throughout the park at one of the fun and unique food stands. Ancient Grounds (located by the main entrance) provides an array of beverages from coffees, teas and espresso to smoothies, and Gatorade. Bamboo Springs (next to the China carousel) offers fabulous angus burgers or chicken sandwich options with multiple side options and beverages. Bar-B-Zoo (across from Penguin Rock) is a full-stop meal house with multiple BBQ options from wings and hotdogs to snack and dessert options. Cheetah Express (inside the Cathouse Café) is the perfect stop for a quick pick-me-up with dip n dots, zoo snacks, and ICEEs. Go’Rillin (also inside of the Cathouse Café) offers combo meals of burgers, hotdogs and chicken tenders as well as vegetarian black bean burgers and PB&J. At Grazin’ Snack Shack (between the African Veldt and the Northwest Passage) you can grab hotdogs, nachos, and pretzels, or cool off with a delicious soft serve ice cream. Pizzafari (inside the Cathouse Café) is the only place to grab a slice in the zoo, so drop by and enjoy cheese, pepperoni, or sausage pizza by the slice or grab a whole pizza to share with the family, and if pizza isn’t what you’re craving, they also have a slew of hot and cold sandwiches or salads to choose from.
I hope this blog has offered you a fantastic roadmap for your upcoming trip to the Memphis Zoo. If you have any special things to share about the zoo, please leave them in the comments below for others to enjoy too!
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